Assistance in Finding a Surrogate in South Africa

It is illegal in South Africa to commercially benefit from surrogacy in South Africa. This means that the commissioning parents may not offer financial reward to an individual in return for the surrogacy other than reasonable compensation for loss of income, medical and lawyer expenses, travel costs and other essential costs associated with the surrogacy.

Finding a surrogate is thus more challenging in South Africa for the following reasons:

• Few people are willing to go through the process for altruistic reasons.
• The surrogate must sign the agreement in South Africa.
• The surrogate must be within a specific age group and in good medical, mental and emotional health.
• The surrogate’s partner must provide consent to the surrogacy.
• The surrogate must at least have given birth to a living child of her own and must have at least one living child at the time of signing the surrogacy agreement.

In South Africa, surrogates are normally friends or family members. Finding a surrogate, however, does not have to be a daunting task. There are numerous ethical fertility and surrogacy clinics in South Africa to facilitate the process and you can make use of the services of an experienced surrogacy attorney such as Adele van der Walt.

Adele van der Walt Incorporated specialises in medical and surrogacy laws and with extensive experience in working with approved South African clinics, we can assist in and assessing suitable surrogate candidates. It should be noted that a surrogate agreement must be set-up and submitted to the High Court together with documents to support the application. These documents include the medical examinations as evidence of your inability to carry and give birth to a child of your own.

View our FAQ page regarding surrogates and ethical ways for finding a surrogate. Contact us for legal assistance and professional advice.